Singer-songwriter Charlotte Gordon-Cumming reveals how deadly mushrooms left her needing a kidney transplant

CHARLOTTE Gordon-Cumming was served up mushrooms picked by her husband, Nicholas Evans, but the supper left her clinging onto life and undergoing a transplant after her friend, Serena donated a kidney to her.

EATING wild mushrooms five years ago almost killed Charlotte Gordon-Cumming – but the gift of a kidney from a friend has given her back her life.

Exactly a year on from the transplant, Charlotte says she feels truly well for the first time since before the awful day in 2008 when she and her husband, Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans, and two other family members dined on deadly foraged mushrooms.

Lucky to survive, the poisoning left Charlotte so seriously ill she says there were times when she wished she would simply slip away.

The singer-songwriter, who has written for the Sugababes, was also left dependent on dialysis and in need of a transplant in order to stay alive.

But now, not only is Charlotte well again, she also has an incredibly special bond with her friend Serena Tucker, who took the brave decision to give Charlotte a kidney and, with it, the hope of a future.

The 55-year-old said: “To get to the other side of the transplant and to feel well again is simply extraordinary. I can truly say I feel immensely grateful.

“Serena has given me a second chance at life. I know she is very proud of what she has done and we have an incredibly close relationship – she is like one of the family.

“While I would never want anyone to go through what I have been through in the last few years, I can honestly say the whole experience has changed my life profoundly and I feel I am on a much stronger and better road because of it.”

Charlotte’s life was turned upside down in September 2008 during a visit to her brother, clan chief Sir Alastair Gordon-Cumming, at his 13,000-acre Altyre estate near Elgin, Moray.

Her husband Nick headed into the forest to pick mushrooms, something he had done for many years.

Usually, if he had any doubts about their safety he would check with a book.

But this time he mistook deadly webcap for edible ceps and served them up in parsley and butter.

Luckily, Charlotte’s son Finlay and her brother’s three children didn’t want any – if they had, they would have almost certainly died.

But Charlotte, Nick – who had previously survived skin cancer – Charlotte’s brother and his wife, Louisa, all tucked in.

By the next day they were seriously ill and their chances of survival were slim. Incredibly, all four of them pulled through, although each suffered varying degrees of kidney failure.

Charlotte said: “I look back now and can’t quite believe the horror of it all. There was a three-week spell in hospital where I felt so terrible I really did just want to go.

“I had tubes going into my stomach because doctors wanted to try me on a different type of dialysis, which simply wasn’t working. I just got worse.

“Thankfully someone realised in time the treatment wasn’t working and I was put back on the normal type of dialysis.”

For nearly four years Charlotte, who now lives in Devon with her husband Nick – who was given a kidney by his daughter Lauren in 2011 – and their 11-year-old son Finlay, travelled to Torquay three times a week for three-hour sessions of dialysis.

Pain, illness and tiredness were her constant companions and even short games of cricket with Finlay would leave her exhausted.

Her only real hope of a future, and of seeing her son grow up, was a kidney swap but searching for a donor can be an emotional roller coaster of hope and despair as chances of a donor transplant come and go.

So for a friend to step forward and offer her a kidney was a life-changing moment for Charlotte.

She said: “I can’t put into words what it feels like when someone steps up like that because they really are saving your life. I am humbled and blessed that there are people like Serena and I really believe that kind of giving is so important in life.”

After many months of tests, the operation finally went ahead at Hammersmith Hospital in London last summer. Charlotte said: “I wasn’t nervous at all. I had seen my husband Nick go through his transplant and saw how beautifully the doctors and nurses looked after him.”

The operation was a tremendous success and both Charlotte and Serena came through it as well as could be expected.

Charlotte said: “Serena was incredibly relaxed about it all and was out of hospital after something ridiculous like two-and-a-half days.

“I can’t stress enough how wonderful that was to see Serena come through it all without a hiccup.”

Now with her health finally restored, Charlotte has decided to fulfil an old dream of creating her own fashion line.

In the aftermath of her transplant, vitamin deficiencies left her weak and unable to walk, but an urge to be creative helped her remember a one-time ambition to design clothes.

She said: “The operation had gone completely smoothly but as I was convalescing I began to get pains in my feet, which then crept up to my knees.

“I was in so much pain so I was sitting around a lot. To fulfil my creative itch I thought I would finally try to do the fashion thing. From there I decided to see what I could come up with. “I am designing a range for older ladies with interesting necklines and sleeves in beautiful materials based on the kind of vintage pieces I have always picked up here and there. And I want it all to be made in Britain.”

And Charlotte has eaten a mushroom since that fateful day. She said: “I found one at the bottom of a dish of Thai soup I was eating and decided to eat it to get over the fear but otherwise I have never touched them again.”

Charlotte is now planning a trip to Africa with her husband, Lauren and Finlay.

She said: “We all love Africa but when we were on dialysis we simply weren’t allowed to go.

“Finlay has never been before so it will be incredibly special for us all.

“We faced a life and death situation but thanks to people like Serena and Lauren, who is doing amazingly well as well, we are back living our lives.”